450 THE PENN MONTHLY, [Junr, 
late to the happiness of men in their relations to each other, the 
social affections are the stronghold of the motives that bear on this 
result. It is evident that a thousand subordinate motives take 
their direction from the primary decisions between these two orig- 
inal alternatives of feeling. 
It is true that the predication of human actions necessitated by 
bodily functions alone, is easy, even when they come to be of a 
highly complex character, as in the mercantile transactions of a 
populous business center. But so soon as the ethical element 
enters into the calculation, the difficulty is greatly increased, and 
with the majority of men predication ceases, and faith begins. 
This is illustrated in the many credit transactions, without which 
it is well known that trade on any but the most limited scale is 
impgssible. So it must be admitted that many men practice faith 
in many affairs, and that this faith is chiefly reposed in the moral 
excellence of other men. Under these circumstances, that state of 
the affections arises in most men which is termed faith, and which 
is only present in the highest form of progressive action, whether 
the results of that action be beneficial or not. It is a condition of 
the affections, as imagination is a condition of the intellect. The 
lowest animal, when attempting a novel act in obedience to imper- 
ative stimuli, doubtless moves blindly, and adopts one of two 
or more alternatives through pure accident. In animals of a 
higher grade of intelligence, new situations are known to be such, 
and fear or suspicion is the usual result. Generally, animals of the 
higher orders do not adopt new habits excepting under severe pres- 
sure, and the majority of them have perished in past geologic ages, 
on account of their inability to assume new modes of life. Never- 
theless, in so far as an animal or a man ventures into an unknown 
field of action, where he is without the guidance of a past ex- 
perience, he or it performs an act of trust in the broad meaning 
of the word. So far as this state of mind is known to the subject, 
the act is one of true faith in the restricted or proper sense of the 
word, Imaginations may and do assume to men the importance of 
truths, and in so far they are such tothem. But in proportion 
as this is the case, faith in its proper sense is wanting, and the action 
following is automatic. The highest form of intellect is necessary 
to the highest form of faith, since it is only by a knowledge of 
the absence of knowledge, that an act of faith is possible. In pro- 
portion to this knowledge of self is faith enlarged; in proportion 
